Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Manager's not messin' around

We've already said that we're going to stop investing what little patience we have left - what with the entirety of the lunacy that the world throws at us on a daily basis - on The Manager's goofy player personnel machinations. It's just not worth it. We can tough it out. We can soar above this. We can be strong and wait until The Manager shuffles off to his post-managerial career as a greeter at Gate 5 and know that someone is going to come in at some point and make some goddamed sense of this team.

But then you see this tweet from Bastian with the Jays' first lineup of the Spring, and you start looking for something against which you can bash the rational thoughts out of your frontal cortex.

We get that these are the Fake Games. That they are meaningless. That they don't count for shit. But when you look at that lineup, and you see Travis Snider hitting ninth behind John Buck, Jeremy (.669 OPS) Reed and Alex Gonzalez, it kinda makes you lose your faith in humanity.

Putting Snider in ninth, especially behind Reed and Gonzalez, is a clear and undeniable message from The Manager to Travis and to all other Jays players: Don't fuck with Clarence. You might complain about how he's doing things, or how negative he gets when he grunts out some incomprehensible rationalization. But don't take The Manager or his boys to task for the way they do business, or you'll find yourself at the ass end of things.

It's bullshit, but yeah, it's expected bullshit at least. Maybe Snider's better off this way - hitting in front of those three guys is a surefire way to make sure you NEVER get anything good to hit.

Cito did say he was going to give Snider playing time in RF thus Spring, so at leas he's coming around a little bit. I'm sure if Snider performs as well as we all know he can, he'll force his way out of the 9-hole pretty quickly.

Actually, that's probably what caught me off guard: I had actually somehow convinced myself that Snider was OBVIOUSLY going to get moved up in the lineup.

And frankly, him hitting 7th behind Reed would have seemed low but reasonable. But the nine hole really surprised me, especially given how The Manager had moved him up the lineup in September last year.

Fuck me. This is the time to get Snider up in the lineup, and make sure he's getting as many AB's as possible. Snider needs to face better pitching too, and the only way to do that is to have him at the top of the lineup.

Tao, are you a Wii man only or do you have another game system? I was reading up on MLB 2K10 today. Looks decent. I might have to buy it. They say The Show for PS3 is the best but I don't have a PS3 and don't plan to for a few months -- although its ability to play Blu-Ray DVDs is enough to make it worthwhile purchase.

Tao - while I share many of your concerns and nightmares about our beloved Cito - I am not having my sperm count retaken just because game 1 of the pre-season sees the sainted Travis Snider being started in the 9th hole.

This guy is just barely 22 - if he'd been a senior college signing he'd just be in Low A this year. No question; this guy, Wallace, Hill and Lind are going to be a powerhouse "Four" for years - BUT - lets let the "Kid" EARN it - lets not give it to him. He wants to hit 4th - no problem - just go out there and DO IT.

Now - if he's still batting 9th when he's 25 - now then I get my sperm retested 'cause obviously something will be all fu*ked up!

I feel it imperative to address my fans at this point. Clarence is just blowing his old horn for the world to see that he is in charge. But he really isn't - I am. I tell Alex what to tell Clarence, and that is the end of it.

I agreed that the manager would be left to his own devices for a few ST games, in order to present him with a face-saving exercise, that would bear no impairment to my long-term objectives of restoring this team to glory and bathing in my personal eminence (while making my company a commodious annuity, of course).

Travis Snider will not hit in the ninth spot for long. Randy Ruiz will play 1B vs LHP, and will see some time in the OF vs tough RHP and also get ABs at DH.

Have some faith in my brilliant strategy and sexy, savvy style. I am ridiculously smart, and a handsome tiger of a business man. My team will shock the world.

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